Julian Assange ,founder Wikileaks has been holed up in Ecuadorean Embassy since June 19, he is wanted in Sweden to face charges related to sexual harassments and by the American government for revealing sensitive documents.
With the drama and intrigue surrounding him getting thicker, the Ecuadorean government have granted him asylum, but the British on whose soil he lives are not allowing him to leave, the country.
Friends say that he is living in a small office space at the Ecuadorean Embassy, which itself is not a big facility, so being comfortable is out of equation, definitely he can’t continue to stay in the embassy despite that been his safest haven in Britain, which has agreed to extradite him to Sweden to face charges.
So how can he get out of Britain and the British airspace, here are some options available
DO A RUNNER
Not likely. The Ecuadorean embassy is in a large red-brick building with dozens of apartments and at least one other embassy – Colombia’s – but the Ecuadoreans only have access to one entrance, the front door.
Scotland Yard has stationed officers there with orders to arrest Assange the instant he steps outside. They can do that because he broke the law when he skipped bail by going into the embassy on June 19, during a two-week grace period granted by a British court after ordering his extradition.
The embassy is one floor off the ground. He is spending his nights in a small office room that friends say does not have direct access to sunlight but even if he tried to climb out of a window in one of the embassy’s larger offices, he would instantly be spotted by the police.
GET INTO A DIPLOMATIC CAR
Under international law British police cannot enter one of the embassy’s cars. The building does have a private car park but it cannot be reached from the Ecuadorean embassy. That means he would have to run out the front door to a car. If he did manage to make it down the steps and barge past the police the car could then head for the airport.
But the police would be entitled to stop the car on the road, block it in, and wait for Assange to emerge. If he did somehow reach Heathrow airport he would still need to leave the vehicle and walk into the terminal.
Police would be waiting to grab him the moment he put a foot on the ground and if he did somehow get into the airport and sneak through the duty free shops they could simply stop him at the immigration counter.
TRY A HELICOPTER
The embassy building does not have a flat roof. If a chopper dropped a ladder he might climb up but he would still be in British airspace, and the police below would soon have the air police or air force on the case, tracking the chopper and forcing it down.
HIDE IN A DIPLOMATIC BAG
In 1984 the Nigerian government had a former transport minister kidnapped in London, and tried to send him back to Nigeria in a large crate designated as diplomatic baggage.
But diplomatic immunity for such baggage only covers proper diplomatic papers and materials, and a person is not considered appropriate contents.
In Nigeria’s case, the plotters did not put the correct diplomatic labels on the crate, allowing British officials to open it and rescue the former minister.
It can be safely assumed that any man-sized package being carried out of the Ecuadorean embassy right now would be examined very closely by the police.
BECOME A DIPLOMAT
One of Assange’s supporters, the activist Tariq Ali, says the Ecuadorean government should appoint Assange as the information officer at its embassy and then rely on his diplomatic immunity to give him free passage.
Sadly for Assange it is up to the British government whether it accepts his diplomatic credentials and that is not very likely.
BECOME A GOVERNMENT MINISTER
The theory is that the British police would not dare to arrest a foreign government minister. Don’t bet on it.
AT LEAST MAKE HIM COMFORTABLE
If Assange really believes that he could end up facing the death penalty in the US if he is extradited to Sweden on allegations of sexual assault then he may decide to stay right where he is.
A precedent was set by Catholic cardinal Joseph Mindszenty, who took refuge in the US embassy in Budapest after Soviet troops invaded in 1956 to suppress the Hungarian uprising. He stayed for 15 years, spending his days in the large office that is now the US ambassador’s office and sleeping in a smaller office to the side of it.
Friends say that Assange is sleeping on a blow-up bed in a tiny office, and the embassy has little other space for its diplomats.
Restaurant meals are often brought in, and he is believed to have a sun lamp to make up for his lack of direct sunlight.
One option might be for his wealthy supporters to rent adjoining rooms to extend the embassy and make his life more sustainable.
Sadly, the British Foreign Office would need to approve such an expansion of embassy territory and it is unlikely to be generous.
